Monday greetings to all! Looks like it's time for another roundup of crime drama news:
MOVIES
David Chase is returning to the New Jersey turf of his iconic television creation, The Sopranos, with a prequel titled The Many Saints of Newark that's set in the era of the Newark riots in the '60s. Some of the beloved characters from the award-winning series will appear in the film, and although no stars have been announced yet, the time period could make room for Tony Soprano’s father, Giovanni "Johnny Boy," the former captain of the Soprano crew (played in flashbacks by Joseph Siravo), and a younger version of his wife Livia (played in the show’s first season by Nancy Marchand), and Tony’s uncle Junior, played by Dominic Chianese. Chase will serve as producer as well as co-writer, and he will be involved in selecting a director.
20th Century Fox has won the rights to Christian Cantrell’s short story "Epoch Index", hiring Justin Rhodes (writer of the upcoming Terminator reboot and remake of Fantastic Voyage) to adapt Cantrell’s story to the screen, and San Andreas director Brad Peyton to direct. Cantrell self-published "The Epoch Index" in 2010, generating interest from various studios for the story that follows CIA analyst Quinn Mitchell as he tracks down an assassin with victims that seem random - but each victim has a numbered tag attached to them.
Tom Shepherd has been hired to pen Matt Helm, a film adapted from Don Hamilton’s spy novel series that has been in the works at Paramount with Bradley Cooper attached to star. George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are serving as executive producers, and Steven Spielberg is also involved in some form. There are 27 published Matt Helm novels that Hamilton wrote from the 1960s to the 1990s, with four of the books made into films starring Dean Martin. Hamilton’s original Helm character was a U.S. special agent/assassin during World War II who left the life to raise a family in Santa Fe but is forced to return to his former life.
eOne and Mark Gordon have tapped Oscar-nominated Ralph Fiennes and Matthew Good to join Keira Knightley and Matt Smith in the thriller Official Secrets, directed by Gavin Hood. The project tells the true story of British intelligence whistle-blower Katharine Gun (Knightley), who, during the immediate run-up to the 2003 Iraq invasion, leaked a top-secret NSA memo exposing a joint US.-U.K illegal spying operation against members of the UN Security Council.
Actor Don Johnson has been cast in director Tom DeNucci’s Vault, joining co-stars Theo Rossi, Clive Standen and Samira Wiley. Inspired by true events and written by DeNucci and B. Dolan, Vault follows a group of small-time Rhode Island criminals who in 1975 attempt to pull off the biggest heist in American history, stealing more than $30 million from the mafia.
Bill Skarsgård and Maika Monroe are set to star in Villains, a darkly comedic thriller to be directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen, based on their screenplay which made the Black List in 2016. Villains follows a pair of amateur criminals who, after breaking into a suburban home, stumble upon a dark secret and two sadistic homeowners who will do anything to keep it from getting out.
Robert Downey, Jr. recently told Entertainment Weekly that he has a slew of projects in the works, including the rumored Sherlock Holmes 3. Although falling short of an official announcement, it indicates the actor is still planning on doing another film in the franchise.
A trailer dropped for the upcoming latest installment in the Mission Impossible series, Mission: Impossible - Fallout, once again starring Tom Cruise in the lead role of U.S. government operative Ethan Hunt.
TELEVISION
Netflix has picked up the action-thriller Close from West End Films for streaming in the United States, the UK and Australia. Close is a female-led action-thriller starring Noomi Rapace (Prometheus) that was produced under West End’s female-based WeLove brand, which develops and produces female-specific content and promoting female talent. Vicky Jewson (Born of War) co-wrote the script with Rupert Whitaker and directed the film, in which Rapace plays a character based on Jacquie Davis, one of the world’s top female bodyguards, who's tasked with protecting a young heiress (Sophie Nelisse).
TNT has opted not to renew The Librarians for a fifth season, but fans can take heart in the fact that series executive producer Dean Devlin announced on Twitter that he will be launching an effort to find a new home for the adventure drama. The fourth season finale, and now the TNT series finale, aired February 7.
Law & Order's Jeremy Sisto is reuniting with Dick Wolf for a starring role opposite Zeeko Zaki in F.B.I., Wolf’s upcoming 13-episode CBS drama series that chronicles the inner workings of the New York office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Sisto will play FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge, whose ability to relate and engage easily to subordinates and superiors makes him "good glue" and sets him up as the nerve center of the office.
Former CSI star Jorja Fox is returning to CBS and reuniting with former CSI executive producer Carol Mendelsogn for a starring role in the drama pilot Chiefs. Fox has been tapped as one of the three leads opposite Alana De La Garza and Aunjanue Ellis in the pilot that explores the professional and personal lives of three driven, successful but very different women (De La Garza, Ellis, Fox) who are each Chiefs of Police of their own precincts in L.A. County. Fox will play Vicky, the Santa Monica Chief of Police, a role which was reworked for her.
Khandi Alexander (Scandal) is set to co-star opposite Kylie Bunbury in ABC’s Get Christie Love reboot drama pilot inspired by the cult 1974 blaxploitation-themed TV movie and subsequent series. The new Get Christie Love centers on Christie Love (Bunbury), an African American female CIA agent who leads an elite ops unit. Also recently cast in the show is Juan Javier Cardenas (Snowfall), playing Jonas, the oldest member of the counterintelligence unit.
The Wire alum Wood Harris has been cast as a lead opposite Lynn Collins in ABC’s cop drama pilot The Mission. Written by Jason Richman and directed by Michael Offer, The Mission chronicles the colorful, complicated lives of cops on and off the beat as we follow them into harrowing, emotional and often humorous situations. It centers on Oriana "Ori" Cloverfield (Collins), who gave up a legal career to become a rookie cop — or so it seems. Harris plays Sgt. Frank Griffith aka Griff, Ori’s training officer, a veteran cop whose lackluster enthusiasm for the job rankles her. Also previously cast in the pilot are Aasif Mandvi, Kris Lofton, Josh Randall, Vannessa Vasquez and Alexander Karim.
Body of Proof star Jeri Ryan has been tapped for a leading role opposite Derek Luke and Paula Newsome in NBC’s drama pilot Suspicion. Based on the book by Joseph Finder and directed by Brad Anderson, Suspicion is described as a Hitchcockian thriller about how far one man will go to save the people he loves. After Danny Goodman (Luke) accepts a handshake loan from his new friend and millionaire neighbor, Tom Canter, he gets a visit from the FBI and learns that the decision is one he will regret for the rest of his life. Coerced to work as an informant for the FBI to earn back his freedom, Danny is forced to infiltrate a world of violence and corruption while trying to protect his family. Ryan will play Tom Canter’s wife, Celina.
Noah Wyle is returning to television in Red Line, which will focus on the racial issues surrounding police shootings, offering different perspectives on the aftermath of the shooting. Wyle will star as Daniel Calder, described as "a dedicated high school teacher who is mourning the loss of his innocent African-American husband," meaning there will also be an interesting LGBTQ component built in to the story.
Marc Blucas (Underground) has landed a series-regular role in ABC drama pilot The Fix, described as part legal thriller, part confessional and part revenge fantasy. After losing the biggest case of her career and being shredded by the media, former prosecutor Maya Travis has left Los Angeles for a quiet life in rural Oregon. Eight years after her devastating defeat, the murderer strikes again, forcing Maya to return to L.A. to confront him one more time. Blucas will play Riv, Maya’s (yet to be cast) partner on the farm in Oregon.
The West Wing alum Kathleen York and Derek Webster (NCIS: New Orleans) are set for key series-regular roles opposite Perry Mattfeld in the CW pilot In the Dark, from CBS TV Studios and Ben Stiller’s Red Hour Films. Written by Corinne Kingsbury and directed by The Big Sick helmer Michael Showalter, the show centers on Murphy (Mattfeld), a flawed and irreverent young woman who just happens to be blind and is the only "witness" to the murder of her drug-dealing friend, Tyson. York will play Murphy’s mother, Joy.
Peter Gallagher (Covert Affairs) has been tapped for a co-starring role opposite Bokeem Woodbine and Timothy Hutton in CBS’ legal drama pilot Main Justice. Written by Sascha Penn and inspired by the life and work of former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Main Justice centers around Miles Blair (Woodbine), the recently sworn-in U.S. Attorney General. Gallagher will play President Whitbeck, The President of the United States, who feels good about newly sworn-in Attorney General, and is happy to finally have a real cop in the position. However, when Miles makes some unorthodox decisions that have far-reaching effects on the President’s domestic and international agendas, he begins to have some reservations about his pick for AG.
Emily Althaus (Orange Is the New Black) has booked a series-regular role opposite Charity Wakefield, Will Patton, Toby Kebbell and Jim Belushi in the ABC drama pilot Salvage from writer-producer Don Todd and ABC Studios. Salvage centers on ex-cop Jimmy Hill (Kebbell), who just wants to be left alone after moving back home to rural Florida. But when a local murder is linked to the sunken treasure of a lost Spanish galleon, he’s drawn into the investigation by an idealistic deputy and pitted against the powerful town patriarch, outside criminal agents and his own father. Althaus will play Missy Hill, Jimmy’s little sister who loves her brother to death and always meant to leave their town of Bel Grove, but has been too busy making poor decisions to get around to it.
Deadline reported that Michael Beach has joined ABC’s Holmes drama pilot, and Justin Johnson Cortez has joined Staties. Holmes explores the lives of five African-American sisters, all officers in the NYPD, with Beach playing Langston Graves, husband to one of the sisters, Sgt. Ella Kendrick Graves (Amirah Vann). Staties centers on a hard-charging NYPD detective (Annie Ilonzeh) who’s banished to the boonies after a high-profile mistake and is paired with a new partner, Oregon State Trooper Sam King (Andy Karl), with Cortez playing Richard Spruce, the cop in charge of a robbery at the River Run Tribal Gaming Casino.
HBO has set an April 6 return date for Season 6 of Vice, its Emmy-winning weekly news magazine that this season will include 35 episodes, a boost of five over last year. The new season will continue the series’ commitment to under-covered global stories with exclusive reports from Iraq, Russia, the Central African Republic and China. Domestic issues covered in the new season will include gun laws, immigration, economics, education, civil rights and "America’s place in the world."
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO
USA Today's geek culture podcast, MotherShip, welcomed best-selling author and comic-book writer Brad Meltzer to chat about his newest thriller, The Escape Artist. And on that theme, he and the rest of the crew broke down their favorite pop-culture escapes from our increasingly crazy real world.
The Story Blender featured special guest Carter Wilson to discuss his latest chiller Mister Tender’s Girl, inspired by the Slender Man attacks.
Sarah M. Chen stopped by Authors on the Air Radio passes through the Corner to discuss The Night of the Flood, a "novel-in-stories" from Down & Out Books, which she co-edited with E.A. Aymar.
Crime Friction chatted with Naomi Hirahara whose final book with amateur sleuth Mas Arai, Hiroshima Boy, is out tomorrow.
Meet the Thriller Author's latest guest was Philip Donlay, a pilot who has combined his passion for flying and writing including his latest novel, Speed the Dawn, a breakneck thriller featuring pilot Donovan Nash.
The Writers Digest podcast spoke with James Scott Bell, a winner of the International Thriller Writers Award and the #1 bestselling author of Plot & Structure.
THEATER
MainStage Irving-Las Colinas is presenting a production of Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution March 13-31. The story centers on Leonard Vole, who's on trial for the grisly murder of esteemed London socialite Emily French. While facing these vicious allegations, only one thing stands between Leonard and the end of a rope ... his wife. Will she come to his defense even though she is a witness for the prosecution?
The UK's Belgrade Theater in Coventry is presenting a psychological drama by the bestselling author of the Alex Rider series and the brain behind BBC shows Foyle’s War and New Blood. Anthony Horowitz's Mindgame tells the story of true crime writer Mark Styler and his efforts to gain an interview with a notorious serial killer. But in order to reach the man and claim his prize, he must first find a way to get past Dr. Farquhar (Michael Sherwin), the quixotic head of the Fairfields asylum where Easterman is being kept. The production runs from Wednesday, March 14 until Saturday, March 17.
Montville, New Jersey's Barn Theater is presenting the Alfred Hitchcock spoof, The 39 Steps, with performances through April 7. The entire cast consists of four actors, one who plays Richard Hannay, a man caught up in a web of international intrigue, while an actress plays three different women who enter Hannay’s life, and all the other characters are played by two people who take on series of rapid costume changes. Director Ron Mulligan describes it as "Monty Python meets Hitchcock meets Benny Hill and The Carol Burnett Show."
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